A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf explain in their report, “[w]omen are not always victims. They actively work
to improve their situation, and they often actively support one side or another in conflict. Given that
many conflicts arise out of social and economic inequality, it is not surprising that women take sides in
an effort to better their lives, or to protect themselves and their families. Women become combatants,
provide medical help, protect and feed armed groups.” 133
In some cases, female victims took up arms to oppose the forces that brought their attackers. 134
Statement givers reported seeing female NPFL combatants. Human Rights Watch also reported that
girls served as both combatants and helpers with Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy
(LURD), Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), and the government forces. 135 The structure
of female units varied across factions. For example, the Women’s Artillery Commandos were allfemale
units headed by female leaders within the LURD faction. 136 Likewise, Taylor’s government
forces included females, although all-female units were less defined, and girl combatants could be
found in men’s battalions. 137
Statements revealed instances of females perpetrating human rights abuses against both men and
women. At times, these women engaged in sexual violence against other women. A female rebel forced
a woman to strip naked and lay on the floor before inserting the barrel of her gun into the woman’s
vagina. 138 The female combatant moved the gun around so violently that the woman screamed out of
pain. 139 While female combatants waged the human rights violations as part of broader war tactics,
they also reflected deep-seated traditional attitudes toward women. For example, a public hearing
witness described the chattel-like treatment of a bush wife. The commander’s wife forced the bush
wife to marry her brother, telling her, “Oh, don’t you know I know that you’re mine?” 140
Women as combatants represented a shift in traditional gender roles, at times contradicting traditional
expectations. Some victims reported looking to these females for help and were taken aback when
they instead perpetrated abuses. One statement giver described her experience with a female rebel:
In 1993, my father died. I was then taken to Gbange by a female NPFL
member who I thought was going to help me. Instead, [she] destroyed me,
letting her boyfriend and other men rape me. She beat me, leaving a mark
on my head. 141
In other instances, women played the role of ally and protector to other women and girls.
Another statement giver described how a female NPFL fighter helped her escape after four
NPFL fighters raped and abducted her. 142 The female combatant hid her and drove her to the
Côte d’Ivoire border using an NPFL car. 143
One statement giver recalled her experience as a bush wife:
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Chapter Ten